Collective Wisdom Blogs

above TUI THE JOYOUS, LAKE below KêN KEEPING STILL, MOUNTAIN The name of the hexagram means “universal,” “general,” and in a figurative sense “to influence,” “to stimulate.” The upper trigram is Tui, the Joyous; the...

above CHEN THE AROUSING, THUNDER below SUN THE GENTLE, WIND The strong trigram Chên is above, the weak trigram Sun below. this hexagram is the inverse of the preceding one. In the latter we have influence, here we have union as an enduring condition. The two images...

above LI THE CLINGING, FIRE below K’UN THE RECEPTIVE, EARTH The hexagram represents the sun rising over the earth. It is therefore the symbol of rapid, easy progress, which at the same time means ever widening expansion and clarity. THE JUDGMENT PROGRESS. The...

above K’UN THE RECEPTIVE, EARTH below LI THE CLINGING, FIRE Here the sun has sunk under the earth and is therefore darkened. The name of the hexagram means literally “wounding of the bright”; hence the individual lines contain frequent references to...

above LI THE CLINGING, FLAME below TUI THE JOYOUS, LAKE This hexagram is composed of the trigram Li above, i.e., flame, which burns upward, and Tui below, i.e., the lake, which seeps downward. These two movements are indirect contrast. Furthermore, Li is the second...

above K’AN THE ABYSMAL, WATER below KêN KEEPING STILL, MOUNTAIN The hexagram pictures a dangerous abyss lying before us and a steep, inaccessible mountain rising behind us. We are surrounded by obstacles; at the same time, since the mountain has the attribute of...

above CHêN THE AROUSING, THUNDER below K’AN THE ABYSMAL, WATER Here the movement goes out of the sphere of danger. The obstacle has been removed, the difficulties are being resolved. Deliverance is not yet achieved; it is just in its beginning, and the hexagram...

above KêN KEEPING STILL, MOUNTAIN below TUI THE JOYOUS, LAKE This hexagram represents a decrease of the lower trigram in favor of the upper, because the third line, originally strong, has moved up to the top, and the top line, originally weak, has replaced it. What is...

above SUN THE GENTLE, WIND below CHêN THE AROUSING, THUNDER The idea of increase is expressed in the fact that the strong lowest line of the upper trigram has sunk down and taken its place under the lower trigram. This conception also expresses the fundamental idea on...

above TUI THE JOYOUS, LAKE below CH’IEN THE CREATIVE, HEAVEN This hexagram signifies on the one hand a break-through after a long accumulation of tension, as a swollen river breaks through its dikes, or in the manner of a cloudburst. On the other hand, applied...

above CH’IEN THE CREATIVE, HEAVEN below SUN THE GENTLE, WIND This hexagram indicates a situation in which the principle of darkness, after having been eliminated, furtively and unexpectedly obtrudes again from within and below. Of its own accord the dark...

above TUI THE JOYOUS, LAKE below K’UN THE RECEPTIVE, EARTH This hexagram is related in form and meaning to Pi, HOLDING TOGETHER (8). In the latter, water is over the earth; here a lake is over the earth. But since the lake is a place where water collects, the...

above K’UN THE RECEPTIVE, EARTH below SUN THE GENTLE, WIND, WOOD The lower trigram, Sun, represents wood, and the upper, K’un, means the earth. Linked with this is the idea that wood in the earth grows upward. In contrast to the meaning of Chin, PROGRESS...

above TUI THE JOYOUS, LAKE below K’AN THE ABYSMAL, WATER The lake is above, water below; the lake is empty, dried up. Exhaustion is expressed in yet another way: at the top, a dark line is holding down two light line; below, a light line is hemmed in between two...

above K’AN THE ABYSMAL, WATER below SUN THE GENTLE, WIND, WOOD Wood is below, water above. The wood goes down into the earth to bring up water. The image derives from the pole-and-bucket well of ancient China. The wood represents not the buckets, which in...

above TUI THE JOYOUS, LAKE below LI THE CLINGING, FIRE The Chinese character for this hexagram means in its original sense an animal’s pelt, which is changed in the course of the year by molting. From this word is carried over to apply to the...

above LI THE CLINGING, FIRE below SUN THE GENTLE, WIND, WOOD The six lines construct the image of Ting, THE CALDRON; at the bottom are the legs, over them the belly, then come the ears (handles), and at the top the carrying rings. At the same time, the image suggests...

above SUN THE GENTLE, WIND, WOOD below SUN THE GENTLE, WIND, WOOD Sun is one of the eight doubled trigrams. It is the eldest daughter and symbolizes wind or wood; it has for its attribute gentleness, which nonetheless penetrates like the wind or like growing wood with...

above TUI THE JOYOUS, LAKE below TUI THE JOYOUS, LAKE this hexagram, like sun, is one of the eight formed by doubling of a trigram. The trigram Tui denotes the youngest daughter; it is symbolized by the smiling lake, and its attribute is joyousness. Contrary to...